Brain Eve! Ultimate Brain

What will happen when we mix up this multicoloured chemical cocktail?

Can our teams stop GP slipping off her slippery pole?

And will there be any smashing in this smashing experiment?

Flex your thinking muscles,

it's time for Ultimate Braaaaain!

Ah-ha-ha-ha!

My name is Dr Brain.

If you like incredible action-packed experiments,

scintillating science and more fun

than a roller disco round the rings of Saturn

then you're just the kind of genius I'm looking for.

Electrifying!

This is Ultimate Brain.

Let's meet the teams.

Here's three great brains in green from Newcastle, it's...

From Hackney, in yellow and bright as sunbeams, it's...

And our celebrity team from CBBC's Eve, it's...

Our teams today are playing for the sheer honour of being victorious

on the greatest science-based show known to man or monkey.

Let's find out who they are.

First we have the Greens! How are we doing, Greens?

We're all right. Yeah.

Oh, good, good, good, good. Now, are you big science fans?

-Yeah.

-What's your favourite thing in science?

-Physics.

-Physics.

-Chemistry.

-Chemistry.

-Physics.

-BUZZER

Oh, I thought we were going to get a full set there.

Lovely to meet you, what's your team name?

Galactic Oblivion, good to meet you. It's the Greens!

CHEERING

-Yellows. How are you, Yellows?

-Good.

-Fine.

Who's the best scientist out of the three of you, do you think?

You? Now, what do you want to be when you get out of school?

-A lawyer.

-A lawyer?

-Yeah.

-Good at science, wants to be a lawyer. Nice one.

Now, what's your team name?

Braaaiin Boxes!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Yellows!

CHEERING

It's the Blues.

You are of course known to our friends from the wonderful show Eve.

-Correct.

-Any of you play a scientist?

-That would be me.

-That would be you.

-Yeah.

And of course you used your expert knowledge of science,

to bring to the role, of course, being a brilliant scientist?

-Yes - a GCSE B.

-B? That's not too bad, actually.

-Yes, well, are you looking forward to some good games?

-Yes.

-Do you think you're going to do well?

-Yes.

-I like that.

What's your team name?

Team Eve! It's good, it's simple, it's strong.

Remember, teams, you will need to be at your most astonishingly

awesome, brainy brilliant best to secure the points in this show.

Ingenious ideas only, please. Yes, it's time for Ignition!

CAR ENGINE REVS

Lightning and thunder, it's started already.

Yes, this brain ignition challenge is all about crazy, colourful

chemical concoctions. Try saying that ten times quickly.

So, here I have four liquids that you might find

in an ordinary household.

Golden syrup, vegetable oil, washing-up liquid,

and methylated spirit,

which is another word for paintbrush cleaner.

Now, you must ask yourselves, "What will happen when I pour

"all of these liquids into this large empty jar?"

Ooh, what a question.

Is this confusion I see on these fine faces?

Nay, it cannot be.

To make it simpler for you all, I'm going to give you four choices.

Count them - four!

Will they...

HE MAKES BUBBLING SOUNDS

..or D - Something else entirely

of your own thinkety-thinking

that even I haven't thunkedy-thunk. Ah-ha-ha!

So, my crazy chemical cocktails conundrum crackers,

time to decide amongst yourselves. Yes, your thinking time starts...

now!

-THEY WHISPER

-Shh!

So, four choices in the mix here but which one is correct?

Think carefully about this cocktail, teams.

Have you thought of your answer?

..it won't glow...

OK, OK, my terrific teams.

All different levels of confidence I can see here.

So, it's time to reveal your answers NOW!

What have we got?

We have a D and two Bs.

Oh. Now, Blues, you've gone for D - something else...

-Yes.

-..that you have thought of. What have you thunk of?

-Eubha?

-Well, what we think's going to happen is that

the different substances are going to layer on top of each other.

Oh, good thinking!

This could be interesting. Well, let's see.

Now then, Greens, let's go for your B. What have you thought?

Well, we did trial and error, really.

We thought it couldn't turn purple cos if it's paintbrush cleaner,

you wouldn't want your paintbrush to turn purple.

Ah, good thinking, good thinking.

We didn't think it would be glow,

-cos we weren't really sure what would make it glow.

-Yes.

We thought bubble vigorously because

-there's a lot of different chemicals within it.

-Ah, of course, yes.

So there'd be a chemical reaction then? It's all going to bubble?

Ooh, that could be fun, couldn't it?

Now then, Yellows, so you've gone for the same thing - bubbling.

Any reason why? What's your scientific logic there?

Well, we know that washing-up liquid bubbles a lot...

Yes, it does, doesn't it?

..and with that much, we think that it will

dominate all the other liquids and it will make it bubble.

So, what's going to make the washing-up liquid dominate

the other liquids then? Is it just a stronger chemical or...?

-When I wash up...

-He washes up. For one thing, let's get that.

Good boy! You'd better start doing that.

Yes, when you wash up...?

Well, you only have to put a bit and the sponge bubbles a lot,

-so with that much...

-It's true.

Oh, this is all very good scientific thinking here, folks. I like this.

Well, you've all come to a cocktail of conclusions there, you see.

HE LAUGHS

But who has got this chemically correct?

Shall we see what actually happens?

-Yes.

-Uh-huh.

-Yes, I think we should, shouldn't we?

If you feel like handling methylated spirits, don't.

Please get a science teacher to help you, or a highly educated,

terrifically talented and gorgeously handsome brainy scientist, like me.

Let's try it, here we go. So, I'm going to begin now

with our delicious, lovely golden syrup - very tasty.

# La-di-da... #

PFFRT.

Oh, I do beg your pardon. Too much banana curry there.

Right, let's pour on now the vegetable oil.

Now the washing-up liquid.

# Da-da-dee-da... #

Nice and green, and then we'll finish with the methylated spirit.

# La-da-dee-da-da... #

In it goes there and let's see what has happened.

Look at that, you see!

So, even though we've used the same volume of each liquid,

they all have different weights!

The golden syrup is heaviest, or most dense, so sits at the bottom.

The paintbrush cleaner

is the lightest so sits on top.

The other two are in between

so they sit, well, in between.

Stripy sciencey rainbow fun!

There we have it! There's the answer - D,

which means the Blues get ten points.

Well done, you Blues!

Now, my brainy boffins, this next challenge requires you

to master a different mind-set.

It's time to get creatively clever.

Behold the Ultimate Brain slippery pole!

Now, GP has been moonlighting as a secret agent

and has only gone and got himself captured by the evil Dr Brainless.

CAT MEOWS

And as we can see here, he has very foolishly left

an obvious way for GP to escape.

A horizontal drain pipe leads to safety, but it's not that simple.

This pole is covered in slippery slime. Ewww.

So what genius gadgets have our three spy-tastic teams

designed to help GP escape?

Our teams were given two days, and a budget of £50

to design their solution.

Teams must think of a way

to get GP from one side

of the slimy pole to the other.

Their designs need to consider balance and friction.

Enough balance to keep GP on the pole and enough friction

to give him some grip on its slimy surface

so he doesn't fall off like this.

Oh-ho!

If any team gets GP to the other side,

they win ten massive Honour Points.

-And here he is! Drumroll, please.

-DRUMROLL

The spy who bugged me.

-SEAN CONNERY ACCENT:

-Straight from the quantum of scientific solace.

He's no sky-fool - it's the undercover agent without fear.

The name's Pig, Guinea Pig.

-It's the Guinea Pig!

-TRUMPETS FANFARE

-TRUMPETS TAIL OFF

-Right, where was I? Are you ready?

Um, yeah, definitely. I'm ready...

for lunch.

No, it's not lunchtime, GP. You've go to escape from a spy prison

to get across that slippery slimy drainpipe thing.

Uh... Can I change my answer?

No, sorry, I'm going to have to take, "Yes, I'm definitely ready."

So let's see what our teams have come up with.

First, it's the Greens!

Guinea Pig, I think maybe you need to get a manicure, don't you?

Indeed, I do.

Either that or you're wearing some very weird gloves.

What are they and why?

Well, we chose gloves to help him move across

because the suckers at the bottom, they'll help him stay on,

-and the claws for grip.

-And then what's up there?

A skateboard for his body so A - he doesn't get covered in gunge,

and B - it will make him go faster.

So the skateboard I presume is going to work with

the slipperiness of the pole and the suckers work against.

-Yeah.

-Ah, a two-pronged attack.

Team Galactic Oblivion have gone for sucker-covered gloves

with claws for grip, and a skateboard to help GP move along,

and to look, like, really awesome.

Suction cups work because there is less air on the inside

than the outside. This allows the air on the outside to force

the rubber against a smooth surface, sticking it firm.

But won't the slime get in the way of the suction?

Let's find out.

-What's the name of it?

-Skateclaws.

Skateclaws! Ah, Santa's lesser-known brother.

-So, are you ready?

-Ready.

Ready, Guinea Pig?

-No!

-Three, two, one, go!

-Off he goes.

-Sit near the middle of it...

-Yes, instruct him.

-..cos then you're more balanced.

-Oh, he's lost a fingernail.

Oh, dear. Problem!

Down he goes. That's a fail, isn't it?

The slime made the pole hard to grip,

even with their special sucker gloves

and the smooth wheels of the skateboard just made it even harder

for Guinea Pig to balance on the slimy pole. Gnarly, dude. Ow!

Bad luck, no points there. Let's see the next plan.

Now then, Yellows, is this how people dress up Hackney these days?

-Well...

-What's this all about?

Our plan requires the bare strength from Guinea Pig

and sandpaper to provide him friction so he can cross the pole.

-Friction, yes.

-So, the way he has to move across the pole

is he has to have his two hands in front of him

and in a baby motion try to pull himself.

I see. So the sandpaper is going to cause friction and give him

some grip on the pole, working against the slipperage of the pole.

-Is that right?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Ah, good. Give us a twirl, Guinea Pig.

WOLF WHISTLE

The Brain Boxes have gone for friction-friendly

sandpaper gloves and pads.

They hope the rough surface of the sandpaper will allow Guinea Pig

to get enough grip on the slimy pole and pull himself to victory.

Get rough and ready, GP.

Well, I think we should see if it works, don't you?

-Yeah.

-What's the name of your plan?

-Sand-at-hand.

-Sand-at-hand. Are you happy, Guinea Pig?

I'm always happy, Dr Brain.

Let's do this thang! Three, two, one, go!

-Baby motion.

-Yeah, baby motions.

-Baby motion.

-I literally can't move.

-Oh, oh. Now...

Use your legs and swing yourself. Yeah, good. Yeah, like that.

-Come on.

-Good, good.

So, he has got some sort of grip on it then.

Do you think that's the sandpaper or just...how he's...?

Ohhh! There he goes!

Down he goes! Ha-ha!

GP certainly got to grips with things and made a good start,

but as the slime built up on his sandpaper gloves,

they just couldn't grip any more.

Things went south pretty quickly, and so did GP.

Unlucky there, Yellows. Let's see the next plan.

Shoo, shoo! We don't allow animals... Oh, wait a minute.

Oh, it's you, Guinea Pig. Ha-ha! There we go.

Now, what on Earth is he wearing?

-He's a sloth.

-He's a sloth? And why is he a sloth?

Basically, Doc, we've gone with a different tactic than everyone else.

-Yes.

-We've decided to go underneath it and hang on.

-Ahhh!

-And we decided, what animal does that?

-Of course, a good old sloth.

-They're quite lazy, essentially quite lazy...

-Yes.

-..so to incentivise him, cos they like eating bugs...

-To motivate him.

-Of course, yes. Motivate.

A little bug to make sure he keeps going to the end.

Ah, very good.

So, Team Eve have thrown science aside and put all their faith

and their money in a fake fly for motivation,

and a silly sloth costume.

But could their zany thinking have some accidental science on its side?

After all, there's a lot of fur to soak up the slippery slime.

-What's the name of your plan?

-The Reluctant Sloth.

The Reluctant Sloth,

read by Martin Jarvis tonight, 11.30 on BBC Radio Four.

Here we go, Guinea Pig. In three, two, one, go, Guinea Pig!

-Now he's started.

-Go on, my son!

-Move your legs.

-Keep going!

-Get the fly! Get the fly!

-Come on!

Oh, and look at that, the fur on the costume is

so thick, it's soaking up most of the slime

allowing GP to get a grip with his arms and his knees

and keeping him nice and warm. Look at him go!

He's off again!

Here we go again and he's getting a little further than before.

He could make it to the... Oh, no, he's so close!

-Get back, get on... Up, up!

-Get your legs up, Guinea Pig!

-Put your effort into it.

-Stomach muscles!

Oh, so close!

Still happy though.

GP's slime-soaking fur was great for grip

but the slime eventually built up, reducing the friction between

the surfaces and leaving GP pulling hard, but going nowhere fast,

and finally he went down with a sloppy slump.

Well, unfortunately, nobody has made it to the end.

That means nobody gets any points. Ah, what a shame.

So let's see what that's done

to the scores.

Oh, look. A big fat nothing.

This round is all about quick reactions.

Our three teams are full of lightning-quick minds,

but who will be the quickest to react to our challenge?

Their finely-honed reflexes are so fast, it's too hard to judge,

even for a super-brained monkey like me.

So we're going to need a very special piece of equipment

to help us decide a winner.

It's time to bring out the

-SLOWLY:

-Slowmonizer,

the supercool camera with super very slow motion,

so that I can accurately see who has the quickest reactions,

and will be taking all the points.

Now, one nominated contestant from each team is standing

here behind the balloon of their team colour,

armed with an ultimate balloon-popping pin.

On the random sound of Dr Brain...

HE WOOFS

..they will pierce their balloons with said pins.

The first to pop will be the winner!

Ready?

Woof.

-Oh.

-I wasn't expecting that.

Oh, bursting with action there,

but they were all so popping fast, we can't tell who was first.

Well, there's only one way to be sure.

Activate the Slowmonizer.

Well, let's have a look here.

They're all about to burst but Dr Oliver moves first,

then Dr Ailbhe, then Dr Cinira.

Oh, look at that. They're all wet but there's only one winner.

-It's Dr Oliver.

-CHEERING

Ah, it was you, Blue!

Well, bless my bananas, that was a close thing.

You all have excellent super-speedy reactions,

but Blue was the first so ten points to you.

Now, if my maths is right, ten plus ten should equal 20.

Ah, yes, it does. Well done, me.

Now, my trusty Guinea Pig works very hard for me,

bringing me all the equipment I need for my many marvellous

experiments, but you know what? It was taking him a bit too long

going up and down the stairs all the time,

so Guinea Pig said, "Why don't I drop everything out of the window?"

Boom!

But it would smash up all my test tubes.

Can you, our mighty-minded contestants, come up with a plan

to get the racks of fragile test tubes down to the ground carefully?

Now, this includes making a bung of course, to bung up the test tubes

at the top to stop the liquids from spilling out.

Now, on the tables in front of you are a variety of materials,

which could be used to protect the test tubes.

The team that has the most unbroken test tubes

with the most liquid in them at the end wins.

OK, my teams of clever cookies, don't smash or land with a crash.

Your time starts...

now! Start building!

Teams can attempt to make the test tubes fall more slowly by creating

designs with lots of air resistance, which will catch the air

on the way down, sort of like a parachute.

The slower something falls, the less force it lands with, you see.

OK, I've got this. You could possibly tie it to the test tube.

Ooh. They could also add shock absorbers to cushion the test tubes

when they hit the ground, you see.

Or, to put it scientifically, slowly, softly - lessy smashy.

-Bill?

-Yeah?

-Don't just stand there.

-Time's up, teams.

That's it, time's up. So, you all think you've come up

with a great plan to make my rack of test tubes

have a safe landing. I hope you have. Fabulous.

But don't let my praise go to your clever heads.

Let's test these ideas out. First, the Blues!

Now then, either one of my goldfish has been to a jumble sale,

or this is the Blue creation. What is it?

-This is Poppy Parrot.

-Poppy Parrot?

Yes. She's a bit shy cos she's not been on telly before.

-PARROT SQUAWKS

-Aw! What's she made out of?

-Cotton wool, balloon belly.

-Oh, so there's a bit of

-balloonage in there?

-A bit of balloon.

-Bubble wrap.

-There's bubble wrap.

-Yes, bubble wrap.

-So, what you're doing there

-is cushioning the blow of the impact.

-Yes.

-You've gone for cushioning.

-Cushioning.

-Yes.

-So, shall we see if it works?

-Why not?

-Why not?

Let's give it a go. Let's pop her up to the Guinea Pig.

Are you ready, Guinea Pig?

I was born ready, Dr Brain.

Three, two, one, go!

Come on, Poppy Parrot! Fly! Be free!

Oh, there was quite a healthy sort of sound there.

I didn't hear too much smash and tinkle.

Let's see what the damage is.

Dr Matilda, our laboratory expert is going to open up your package

and see exactly how much damage has been done,

and how much liquid has been saved inside the test tubes.

Expert precision, she's going to use.

We were quite generous with the Sellotape.

Yes, yes, you've made it... It's quite tough, I think.

-Yes.

-There's the first two layers.

-Perfectly preserved.

-Perfectly preserved.

-Oh, look at that.

-Wow.

Now let's have a look. There are the test tubes.

Now, Dr Matilda, give us a thumbs up if you think they both look intact.

We get the thumbs up from Dr Matilda, they're both intact!

Now we need to see how much liquid is left inside.

Let's have a look and see.

Ah, lovely blue liquid, you see, cos they're the Blue Team.

There we go!

So, Team Eve went for maximum cushioning

with super-soft cotton wool,

impact-absorbing bubble wrap and a comfy cloth covering.

No breakages and no spillages. Awesome, dude.

Well thought through and well executed. A good plan by the Blues.

Well done, you Blues!

Let's see the next plan.

They're from Hackney, they're the Yellows. What's the plan?

We've thought about, not slowing down the landing,

but the impact so...

So, talk me through what materials you've used here.

-Bubble wrap.

-Bubble wrap.

-Cotton wool.

-Cotton wool.

-String.

-And you've got a couple of balloons on the top there.

Before we put the balloons, we put some plastic over it just to seal it.

So basically if any water goes into the balloons

it will just go back into the tube.

It'll go back into... You've thought this through.

Very good, let's do it.

Take it up to Guinea Pig and let's see it in action.

Are you ready, Guinea Pig? Here we go.

Three, two, one, go!

-SMASHING

-Oh!

-Ahh!

Ah, now, I heard a noise there.

That's all water.

We're going to have a look and see

if anything at all has been saved, and what damage there is.

Of course, she has special gloves on,

so that if there is any broken glass...

Ultimate Brain Warning - Caution.

When picking up broken glass, always use safety gloves.

Personally, I use a lab assistant, like Dr Matilda here.

Oh, dear. They're both broken. Now what we have to do

is see if any liquid is left inside them.

It's just glass, oh...

Ohhh, a barely noticeable amount.

So, the Brain Boxes also went for cushioning with cotton wool

and bubble wrap, but they left the hard frame of the test tube rack

exposed and that channelled the force of the impact

right through to the glass of their test tubes.

Oh, smashing stuff, but not in a good way.

Unlucky. Let's see the next plan!

What's the plan?

OK, so we've got the parachute to increase the air resistance.

Oh, lovely and silky. Counteracting the gravity, you hope?

Yes, and what else you got?

And then we've got the cushion around it to lessen the impact

-of the blow.

-Yes.

So we've got air resistance against the gravity,

lessening the impact with cushioning.

Lots of scientific plans in place here,

all within one wonderful machine.

Let's do it! Take it up to Guinea Pig

and let's see it in flight.

Exciting, isn't it?

Three, two, one, go!

DEVICE THUDS

Well... Ha-ha-ha! Greens, come and join me.

Now, the parachute didn't quite deploy, did it...?

-No.

-..as successfully as one might have hoped.

It did take a little bit of air though, didn't it?

So it kind of... If it had a bit more distance,

perhaps it might have worked. Now then...

Ah, now, you've put some stuff inside the test tube, as well.

Both of their test tubes look to me to be intact.

CHEERING

Now, look. Let's empty out the liquid. That's one.

Now let's see the liquid from the other test tube.

-Are you pleased so far?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Let's see. Oh, that's a fair amount of liquid in there!

Team Galactic Oblivion went for maximum cushioning materials

AND air resistance with their silky green parachute.

Look at that!

And the cotton wool in the test tubes kept the liquid in

and helped absorb the impact. Test tube-tastic, guys!

So, that means both the Blues and the Greens have won

and get ten points each!

-Yes!

-Whoo-hoo!

-Yes!

Team Eve have 30,

the Brain Boxes have a massive,

um, nothing,

and Galactic Oblivion have ten.

Ooh, there's catching up to do,

that's for sure, but there's still honour to play for

on Ultimate Brain.

Nothing can prepare you for what could happen next on Ultimate Brain.

Not even a three-month course at the institute of preparing you

for what could happen next on Ultimate Brain.

It really is quite a pointless course, that one.

It's time for the quickfire round.

Any of you mindfully magnificent teams could still win this.

Hands on your desks! Remember, you get two points

for each correct answer

and you get nothing, zip, nada, goose eggs for a wrong answer,

not even this half-eaten apple.

Definitely not. This is mine, mine, all mine!

Mwa-ha-ha!

Oh, get off.

Let's do this.

The fear of which eight-legged beast is called arachnophobia?

-Blue?

-A spider.

Is right!

What sport was played on the moon's surface

during the Apollo 14 mission?

Green?

Golf.

-Correct!

-What does the Bactrian camel famously have two of

instead of just one?

-Blue.

-Humps.

-Is right!

-What are the two openings in your nose called?

Blue?

Nostrils.

Correct.

Name either of the two chemical elements that make up pure water.

Green?

Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Very good.

Which is the tallest building in the whole of the United Kingdom?

Yellow?

The Shard.

Correct.

The famous plumage of adult flamingo birds is usually which colour?

-Blue?

-Pink.

-Yes.

-In computing, what term is given to 1,000 megabytes?

-Blue?

-Gigabyte?

-Correct.

-Yes.

-What shiny yellow precious metal...?

-BELL RINGS

-That's time!

Quickedy quick, quickedy quick, quickedy, quickedy whoo.

That was some furiously fast brain action there, folks.

Every contestant gave it their bwainy, bwainy best.

It's time for the results!

It's all too much for me! We want to know, don't we? We want to know.

Well, in third place, with two points...

it's the Yellow Team!

CHEERING

In second place with 14 points...

it's the Green Team,

which means our Ultimate Brain winners,

with a massive 40 points...

is the Blue Team!

What a big bunch of boffins they all are, Dr Brain.

They certainly are some of the best boffins we've ever seen,

and a special well done to our winners, scientific geniuses

one and all. If it's honour you're after,

then its Ultimate Brain honour you've won.

Salute your victors, teams!

See you next time for more incredible experiments

and spectacular science on Ultimate Brain!

Are you ready?

-CHEERING

-Down he goes!